WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY TO HOLD COMMENCEMENT ON MAY 21
-- Chang-rae Lee, award-winning novelist, to receive honorary degree

William Paterson University in Wayne will hold its 175th commencement on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 10:30 a.m. on Wightman Field on campus. The rain date is Wednesday, May 22, also at 10:30 a.m.
A total of 968 students are scheduled to receive degrees. Bachelor’s degrees will be conferred upon 809 undergraduates; 159 students will receive master’s degrees. All graduates will have completed their degree requirements as of May, 2002.

Chang-rae Lee, the award-winning Korean American novelist who was recently appointed to the faculty at Princeton University, will be awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
President Arnold Speert will address the graduating class along with Angela Sarrica, senior class president, who will deliver the statement for the Class of 2002.

Alumni from the class of 1952, who graduated when William Paterson was called New Jersey State Teachers College at Paterson, will be present at the ceremony and attend a 50th reunion luncheon sponsored by the Alumni Relations Office. The Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Chapter will host a Senior Send-Off reception on Monday, May 20 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Caldwell Plaza.

Graduates will be recognized by college and will proceed to the platform to be congratulated by the college dean. Receptions for students, faculty and guests will be held in Caldwell Plaza on campus following commencement activities.

Lee is the author of two award-winning novels, Native Speaker and A Gesture Life. Native Speaker received numerous honors and prizes, including the PEN/Hemingway Award, the American Book Award, and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and was named one of the Year’s Best Books in 1995 by Time magazine. Lee, whose appointment at Princeton is effective July 1, currently serves as director of the master of fine arts program at Hunter College of CUNY, where he teaches writing workshops and seminars in literature and is currently researching a third novel. He is a resident of Ridgewood.

William Paterson University, one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 30 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, the Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the university enrolls approximately 10,500 students and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution’s 363 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program (25 scholars), the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.

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5/13/02
For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966